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Hi! I'm taking a little break and it might take me a few days to reply to comments and emails. I'll be back soon! :)

Monday, September 13, 2010

Aerolatte Fun and Smart School Time Recipes

Have you downloaded your free copy of Smart School Time Recipes yet? I have! It has been fun going through the e-cookbook and discovering new bloggers through the recipes that they contributed to the project. Check out the recipes I have tried so far:

Alisa's Speedy Wheat Hamburger Buns. Alisa is the creative, hard-working mastermind behind this awesome communal cookbook. These buns were fluffy and speedy indeedy! The good kind of fluffy though, not the Wonder Bread kind of fluffy that disappears in your hand if you squeeze it hard enough. That's just wrong! These are fluffy *and* bready! *WIN* :)

*drooooool*

Hannah's Maple Cinnamon Glazed Almonds. Don't be scared of all the cinnamon, it seems like it's going to be a lot but it's just the perfect amount. No need to have your dentist on speed-dial either, they're just sweet enough but not too sweet. Fine print: these almonds are very addictive! I dare you not to eat the whole batch in one sitting!

And here come Katie's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins. Oh yea. These things are tasteh! Elvis would definitely approve. The recipe calls for an egg, but I used a flax egg and it worked like a charm. I made mini muffins, because I can. It's easier to just pop'em like candy that way! :D

Oh, you noticed that cup of coffee that I very nonchalantly placed in the background there? That is my super foamy coffee made with my super duper Aerolatte! Watch me make lots of foam with my cool gadget:

Can't see the video? You can watch it on my flickr. See how I don't whip the milk in a mug, and instead I do it in a little glass measuring cup? That's because when I first whipped it in my precious Luke's mug the pesky thing scratched off some of the finish! *sadface*

Mr. Wing-It bought me the Stainless-Steel Deluxe Edition Aerolatte for Christmas, which comes with a spiffy stand, but there is also an Aerolatte To Go that comes with a handy case to take to work in your purse... or man bag... or backpack... or fanny pack. Hey, it's cool, I'm not the fashion police! :D

My super Aerolatte

The milk that the Aerolatte whipped so beautifully is brown rice milk, and it also works with millet milk, white rice milk, oat milk, soy milk, and even almond milk. The almond milk doesn't get quite as foamy, and the foamiest of them all is the soy milk. I only whip it for about 20 seconds because dipping my nose in foam as I drink my coffee is no fun, but if you like dipping your nose in your coffee, whipping it longer makes more foamy goodness. A few of you swell readers requested a recipe for brown rice milk and millet milk, and because I am such a diligent blogger...

To make the milk:
4 cups water
pinch of salt
sugar to taste (optional)

1. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Stir in the rice and the cashews and cook covered over low heat for 45 to 55 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.

2. Transfer the cooked rice and cashews into a blender, add the water and salt and liquefy until smooth. Let the blender run for a couple of minutes until you don't see any big chunky bits of rice or nut. If you want to sweeten it, add sugar by the teaspoon and blend until you're pleased with the sweetness.

3. Strain the milk into a pitcher using a fine mesh strainer. If you're going to be drinking this straight up, you might want to strain it through a layered cheesecloth. I use it for baking and to make yummy lattes, so a fine mesh strainer does the job for me.

Notes: If you want to leave out the cashews that's OK, but the milk won't be as rich and it won't get all whippy with the Aerolatte. For millet milk, swap the raw rice for raw millet and keep an eye on it after 35 minutes of simmering. I have yet to try quinoa milk, as Vegyogini so cleverly suggested, but I'll let you know how that goes when I try it. Enjoy! :)

Your burger buns (and the burger, too) look so perfect ... and the muffins and almonds are just plain gorgeous. But the whipper — that's the sort of ingenious little device I love. If only I drank coffee...

Woweeee!!! That all looks like fun. Question, what about those delicious looking onion rings in the background. I love those little suckers, but haven't found any vegan versions. Hope you're having a wonderful day!

Thanks guys! I hope you enjoy the brown rice milk if you get a chance to try it (I'm making the quinoa milk tomorrow and updating next week) I'm feeling a little under the weather today so I'm keeping this short and sweet :(

I must have missed those buns in the cookbook, because I don't recall seeing them. I have to give that recipe a try, I have never made my own burger buns before. I really want to make those almonds too. I am a sucker for cinnamon.

I love your little video and what a cool gadget! Now my question is, can you whip your "milk" into like a whipped topping for pies, etc? That has been the hardest thing for me. I tried making whipped topping with my kitchenaid using coconut milk, and....no successful.

I make coconut whipped cream with a little handheld mixer all the time! I leave the can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, and then the next day I open the can and scoop out the fat that firms up and floats on top of the liquid. Whip it up with a mixer, add a hint of maple syrup or powdered sugar, and a bit of vanilla and voila! :D

Forgot to say - I already answered Joanie's question about the onion rings, but in case anybody else in wondering, those are beer battered onion rings by Alexia Foods. The regular onion rings have whey, but the beer battered ones are deliciously vegan! :)

I have one of those little whippy things (though I think that mine is a cheaper, crappy brand... I think I got it in the supermarket), but I never got around to getting batteries for it, so it just languishes somewhere in the kitchen. I actually have no idea where! It is jealous of the love you have shown to yours.

I would love to try making my own rice milk one day. One day I will. Yes, one day! You're awesome. :)